1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a master cylinder device for vehicles such as motorcycles, which has a master cylinder with a cylinder body thereof attached in the vicinity of a grip of a steering bar handle, and an operating lever supported by a pivot on the cylinder body for pushing a piston of the master cylinder by the turning movement toward the grip.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional master cylinder device, as disclosed for instance in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 59-153679, a cylinder body of a master cylinder is disposed so that the axis thereof will be in parallel with the axis of a bar handle in front of the bar handle.
In the master cylinder device with the cylinder body mounted in such a position that the axis thereof is in parallel with the axis of the bar handle as stated above, a relatively wide space is needed on the bar handle for mounting the master cylinder, enough to support the overall length of the cylinder body. This structure, however, will narrow a space provided between the right and left bar handles, imposing a limitation to the mounting of meters and switches.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-described circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a master cylinder device for vehicles which enables a master cylinder to be mounted even in a narrow space on a bar handle.
To accomplish the object stated above according to the present invention, there is provided a master cylinder device for vehicles which has a master cylinder with a cylinder body thereof attached in the vicinity of a grip of a steering bar handle, and an operating lever supported by a pivot on the cylinder body, for pushing a piston of the master cylinder by the turning movement toward the grip, in which the cylinder body is positioned so that, below the axis of the bar handle, the axis of the cylinder body is substantially orthogonal to a vertical plane including the axis of the bar handle.
With the above arrangement, since the axis of the cylinder body is arranged substantially orthogonal to the vertical plane inclusive of the axis of the bar handle, the master cylinder mounting space required on the bar handle is about as large as the diameter of the cylinder body. It is, therefore, possible to substantially decrease the mounting space as compared with conventional ones, and to provide a wide space between the right and left bar handles to thereby facilitate mounting of meters and switches.
Even in the case where the axis of the cylinder body is positioned beneath the axis of the bar handle and a rearwardly inclined cowling covering the front part of the periphery of the bar handle is mounted on the vehicle frame, it is possible to easily prevent interference between the cowling and the master cylinder, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of cowling layout.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.